T 


.  ..  - 

i  E 


CHURCH  OF  THE  FUTURE; 

AN  ESS  AY, 

CONTAINING 

A  TERRIBLE  ARRAIGNMENT 

/ 

OF  THE 

CIVILIZATION  AND  CHRISTIANIZATION 

OF  THE 

present  aqe, 

from  which  and  from  other  CONSIDERATIONS  IS  ARGUED 

THE  NEED  OF 


A  NEW  ERA,  - 

WHICH  IS  ANNOUNCED  AS  CERTAIN  AND  BELIEVED  TO  BE 

IMMINENT. 


Published  by  the  C.  M.  Mission  Society, 
817  NORTH  forty-fifth  STREET, 

PHILADELPHIA. 

1889. 


CURRENT  OPINIONS. 


In  a  speech  delivered  in  New  York  City  at  the  annual  met 
ing  of  the  National  W.  C.  T.  U.  of  1888,  Miss  Frances  t 


L. 


me:  oi  me  iNaLiundi  w.  a.  \  ,  w  c 

Willard  referring  to  the  action  of  the  late  Methodist  Conference 
in  New’  York,  which  refused  to  admit  women  delegates,  is  re¬ 
ported  to  have  used  the  following  language,  which  is  given  some¬ 
what  condensed  ; 

“What  shall  be  done  about  it?  is  everywhere  the  question. 
Many  letters  and  consultations  with  men  and  women  high  in 
church  circles  develop  a  plan  somewhat  like  this  :  an  organization 
to  be  formed  called  the  Church  Union,  made  up  of  those  who  are 
unwilling  longer  to  leave  inoperative  the  protest  of  their  souls 
against  I  government  of  the  church  by  its  minority  ;  this  Church 
Union  to  be  open  to  any  and  all  who  will  subscribe  to  the  Apos¬ 
tles’  Creed  and  the  triple  pledge  of  total  abstinence,  anti-tobacco 
and  social  purity  ;  none  of  the  members  obliged  to  leave  a  church 
to  which  they  now  belong  in  order  to  join  this  ;  men  and  women 
to  be  on  terms  of  perfect  equality,  and  women  to  be  regularly 
licensed  and  ordained.  But  for  myself  I  love  my  mother  church 
so  well,  and  recognize  so  thoroughly  that  the  base  and  body  m 
the  great  pyramid  she  forms  is  broader  than  the  apex  that  I  would 
fain  give  her  a  little  time  in  which  to  deal  justly  with  the  great 
host  of  her  loving,  loyal  and  devoted  daughters.  I  would  wait 
four  years  longer  in  profound  hope  and  prayer.  I  say  this  frankly 
from  my  present  outlook,  though  so  often  urged,  and  not  a  httte 
tempted  and  sometimes  quite  determined  to  take  a  new  departure. 

“  The  time  will  come,  however,  and  not  many  years  from  now 
when  if  representation  is  still  denied  us,  it  will  be  our  solemn 
duty  to  raise  once  more  the  cry  ‘  Here  I  stand ;  I  can  do  no 
other  ^ 

In  his  article  on  “The  New  Reformation,”  in  the  Nov.,  ’88,  Cen¬ 
tury  Magazine,  Rev.  Lyman  Abbott  says,  summarizing  the  teach¬ 
ings  of  John  Calvin  :  “There  is,  he  says  no  King  but  ^e;  no 
father  but  one.  He  alone  is  the  universal  King,  the  All-Father. 
Kings  and  hierarchies  do  but  play  at  law-making  ;  He  is  the  only 
lawgiver.  .  .  .  From  Him  all  authority  comes  ;  m  Him  all  au¬ 
thority  centres  ;  to  Him  all  allegiance  is  due  ;  His  will  is  the  final, 
ultimate,  absolute  fact  in  the  Universe.  .  .  .  This  is  Calvmisrn— 

the  doctrine  of  Divine  Sovereignty  ;  to  be  read  m  the  light  of  the 
age  against  whose  dormant  anarchy,  awakening  later  m  the 
French  Revolution,  it  was  a  solemn  protest  Nor  can  we  say 
even  now  in  the  United  States  of  America,  with  its  shallow  doc¬ 
trine  of  popular  sovereignty,  its  cry  oi  vox  popult,  vox  det,  \is 
egotism  of  democracy,  its  dead  sea  fruit  of  Anarchic  Social¬ 
ism  that  there  is  no  need  to  listen  to  and  heed  this  protest  of  a 
solemn  voice  reaffirming  the  sublime  doctrine  of  the  ancient  He¬ 
brew  prophets  and  itself  reaffirmed  by  the  the  least  religiously- 
minded  of  modern  historians.—/.  A.  Froude.” 


The  Church  of  the  Future. 


FOUR  GRAND  EPOCHS. 

The  grand  periods  of  church  organization  and  development 
have  occurred  within  an  interval  of  seventeen  to  nineteen  hun¬ 
dred  years.  Following  the  Septuagint  chronology  we  have  the 
, following  dates  which  stand  at  the  commencement  of  eras  : 

In  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Enos  we  read  that  “  then  men  began 
to  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord.”  This  was  in  the  year  of  the 
world  435. 

From  this  date  to  the  preaching  of  Noah  to  the  antediluvian 
world  was  1900  years. 

From  the  preaching  of  Noah  to  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Mount 
Sinai,  1700  years. 

From  the  giving  of  the  law  to  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  i8^a 
years. 

From  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  to  the  present  time,  1855  years. 

From  this  statement  it  appears  that  throughout  the  period  of 
human  history  a  radical  and  far-reaching  change  in  church  de¬ 
velopment  has  taken  place  in  periods  of  1700  to  1900  years. 

The  Mosaic  dispensation  commenced  1834  years  before  the 
crucifixion  of  Christ.  As  a  consequence  we  stand  further  from 
Christ  than  Christ  stood  from  Moses.  Four  thousand  years  of 
human  history  preceded  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  and  only  three 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-five  years  have  succeeded  it. 
If  Moses  was  the  schoolmaster  to  bring  the  world  to  Christ,  the 
infant  church  was  nearly  four  thousand  years  old  before  it  reached 
the  age  suitable  for  such  instruction  ;  and  on  this  basis  of  develop¬ 
ment  the  church  of  all  ages  cannot  be  said  to  have  reached  middle 
life,  and  is  just  old  enough  to  enter  upon  the  activities  of  mature 
and  vigorous  manhood.  ‘ 


A  NEW  ERA. 

^  If  we  may  infer  anything  from  the  periodicity  mentioned,  it  is 
time  for  another  great  religious  revolution— not  a  revival  or 


6 


,  proportion  of  all  the  active  Christian  faith  and  zeal  of  the  world, 
and  that  is  saying  a  great  deal ;  for,  probably,  with  all  our  faults 
f  and  short-comings,  there  never  was  an  era  of  greater  enlighten- 
j  ment,  or  an  era  when  there  were  so  many  ruled  by  the  spirit  of 
the  gospel  of  Christ. 

Protestantism  has  had  400  years  of  development,  and  has  an 
honorable  record.  The  great  Lutheran,  Presbyterian,  and  re¬ 
formed  bodies  generally,  have  done  noble  service  for  Christ  and 
humanity.  And  the  later  Methodist  body  has  a  single  century’s 
record  perhaps  unequaled  by  any  branch  of  the  church  during  so 
short  a  time.  These  communions  have  planted  and  nourished  ' 
missions,  and  have  given  a  small  portion  of  the  wealth  which  God 
has  conferred  upon  them  for  Christian  use  at  home  and  abroad.  . 
They  have  released  the  Scriptures  from  long  ages  of  bondage, 
translated  them  into  all  languages,  and  given  them  wings  to  fly 
abroad  throughout  the  earth  bearing  the  everlasting  gospel.  They 
have  done  their  share  in  releasing  the  human  mind  from  bondage, 
and  have  made  education  honorable  and  intelligence  respectable. 
They  have  founded  States,  and  the  greatest  nation  in  the  world  ; 
and  have  impressed  upon  modern  civilization  many  of  the  divine 
precepts,  increasing  a  spirit  of  humanity,  tolerance,  peace  and 
good  will  to  men. 

These  churches  have  given  more  light,  more  law,  more  liberty 
than  the  world  had  ever  before  known.  Volumes  have  been 
written,  and  other  volumes  shall  yet  be  written  in  proof  of  the 
greatness  and  importance  of  the  Protestant  form  of  faith,  and  we 
praise  God  for  its  glorious  record. 

And  yet  Protestantism  has  its  errors  and  weaknesses,  as  will,  I 
think,  appear,  as  we  consider  the  present  condition  of  Christianity 
in  Protestant  countries.  Protestant  communities,  one  and  all, 
deny  too  largely  their  responsibility  to  human  society  and  gov¬ 
ernment.  As  a  result  we  have  had  a  Christian  people  with  most 
unchristian  governments  ;  and  the  world  has  felt  the  force  of  our 
civilization  much  more  than  the  force  of  our  Christianity. 

CHWfteiw’TJWroisr. 

The  Lord  Jesus  prayed  for  W disciples  “That  they  may  all  be 
one  ;  as  thou.  Father,  art  in  n^eSmd  I  in  thee  ;  that  they  also  may 


7 


\be  in  us  ;  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  didst  send  me.” 
Tl;^  broken  unity  of  Christendom  dates  bapx  to  the  early  Chris- 
tian'vcenturies,  and  every  century  since  has  increased  rather  than 
lessened  the  divisions. 

The  'differences  that  separate  those  who  hold  professedly  the 
same  he^  are  in  some  cases  funda0iental,  and  in  all  cases 
sufficient  td- keep  their  adherents  in  ^parate  organizations.  If 
anyone  is  valii  enough  to  imagine  that  these  differences  can  be  so 
far  removed  a^.to  bring  Christians  together,  they  are  confronted 
by  the  fact  tha^  no  progress  has'  been  made  in  this  direction 
•throughout  the  ages.  But  this  is  not  the  strongest  reason  for 
regarding  such  union  impossible.  It  is  impossible  because  truth 
and  purity  are  both  essential  to  union,  and  neither  the  unifying 
truth  nor  the  freedom  from  prejudice  can  be  found.  Every  Christ¬ 
ian  sect  has  doubtless  a  share  of  the  great  vitalizing  elements  of 
the  faith.  Without  this  thw  could  not  exist ;  but  they  cannot  step 
over  the  barriers  that  separate  them  from  one  another.  No  great 
divided  bodies  of  people  have  ever  been  brought  together  or  ever 
can  be  brought  together  by  n^ierely  deciding  to  leap  over  the 
mountains  that  separate  them  or  bridge  their  swollen  streams. 
We  might  as  well  exp^t  the  nations  of  Europe  to  come  together 
and  form  one  nation,  throwing  asidg  the  past  and  forgetting  the 
feuds  of  ages.  They/will  not  do  it ;  ^l^ey  cannot  do  it.  But  they 
can  come  to  Amerioh,  and  here,  on  this^^broad  and  free  continent, 
they  forget  their  past  and  labor  for  a  nev^^civilization. 

So  it  is  in  the  case  of  the  separated  churches.  A  new  standard 
of  faith,  presenting  broader  views  of  truth  and  duty,  a  freer  realm, 
a  more  gloriou^eritage  once  offered  to  the  «§ouls  of  men,  and 
they  come  together  from  every  sect  and  every  6reed  and  labor  in 
harmony  to  b^ild  up  the  one  and  only  kingdom  of  ever  blessed 
holy  One.  I  am  told  that  such  a  realm  does  rioit  exist,  that 
there  is  no  ^here  of  truth  or  duty  not  spanned  by  th^phurches 
that  are,  I  answer,  such  a  country  exists  and  God  made  X  The 
smiles  of  hp  countenance  light  it ;  the  sun  of  his  righteo^ness 
warms  it  and  makes  it  fruitful ;  and  there  most  undoubtedly^ Will 
gather  his!  chosen  ones,  realizing  that  church  unity  heretofore 
sought  in  vain. 

2.  The  corruptions  and  abuses  which  prevail,  and  which  the 


8 


church  as  now  constituted  is  powerless  to  restrain,  much  less  to 
eradicate. 

Here  we  need  some  standard  of  excellence,  and  what  standard 
can  a  Christian  take  except  that  setup  by  Christ  and  his  Apostles? 

Certainly  any  lower  standard  is  unchristian  and  unworthy  of  us. 

We  have  a  right  to  ask  for  and  expect  the  “  fruits  of  the  spirit,” 

^  and  a  disavowal  of  the  ”  works  of  the  flesh.”  We  have  a  right  to 
insist  that,  if  the  church  cannot  control  all  abuses  she  shall  oppose 
all,  and  sanction  none  ;  that  she  shall  separate  herself  from  work¬ 
ers  of  iniquity. 

I  As  the  field  is  vast  I  shall  confine  myself  to  American  social* 
and  civil  life,  leaving  for  others  the  task  of  treating  other  Protest¬ 
ant  Christian  countries.  And  here  I  can  only  draw  a  few  sketches, . 
for  I  attempt  a  work  requiring  volumes  for  its  complete  treatment 
instead  of  the  fraction  of  a  brief  discourse.  Allow  me  to  illustrate 
the  subject  as  it  has  appeared  in  the  light  of  our  great  social 
epochs,  which  have  brought  to  the  surface  vices  and  virtues  in  a 
strong  light. 

When,  a  generation  ago,  the  churches  of  the  South  accepted 
slavery  as  just  and  right,  sought  to  defend  it  by  Scripture  teaching 
and  incorporate  it  as  a  prominent  factor  in  their  form  of  civiliza¬ 
tion  ;  when  they  tolerated,  not  only  its  existence,  but  its  abuses  ; 

I  separated  from  the  communion  of  sister  churches  rather  than 
i  listen  to  their  Christian  admonitions  ;  and  concluded  their  folly 
,  and  wickedness  by  joining  in  an  open  revolt  against  the  best  and 
:  freest  government  the  world  has  ever  seen,  it  became  manifest  s 

that  the  salt  in  that  church  “had  lost  its  savor.”  And  when,  in  the 
desperate  struggle  that  followed,  we  see  barbarities  scarcely 
equalled  in  modern  times,  we  see  evidences  of  a  condition  of  bar¬ 
barism  that  the  church  was  unable  to  control  or  unwilling  to  grap¬ 
ple  with.  And  the  church  of  the  North  shares  the  guilt  and  the 
disgrace.  If  she  had  done  her  duty,  and  had  done  it  in  the  right 
'  spirit,  she  could  have  saved  the  church  of  the  South  ;  or,  failing 
in  that,  could  have  exonerated  herself.  But  as  it  was,  her  selfish, 
dilatory,  time-serving  spirit,  and  her  selfish  policy,  was  just  as 
conspicuous  as  the  weakness  of  the  Southern  brethren.  I  have 
sometimes  thought  that  the  church  of  the  North  was  more  to  blame, 

,  having  less  to  blind  it,  and  being  controlled  by  the  pure  love  of 


•r. 


9 


mammon,  without  those  social  prejudices  which  gave  some  shadow  ■ 
of  excuse  to  Southern  churches.  It  is  at  least  certain  now  that 
both  were  to  blame.  They  were  either  unable  or  unwilling  to 
cope  with  the  evil.  Sin  brought  forth  death,  and  we  were  fear¬ 
fully,  but  justly,  punished  for  our  sins. 

THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

But  I  will  go  back  four  hundred  years  for  an  illustration  of  a 
different  character.  The  corrupt  Roman  hierarchy  had  become 
■  enslaved  by  mammon,  and  the  lust  for  gain,  and  was  intent  upon 
raising  revenue,  no  matter  at  what  sacrifice.  Tetzel  was  author¬ 
ized  to  sell  indulgences  to  commit  all  manner  of  crimes  for  a 
stipulated  sum  of  money.  The  still  uncorrupted  heart  of  the 
German  people  uttered  an  effective  protest,  and  Luther  gave 
voice  to  the  general  indignation  against  a  rotten  hierarchy.  We 
respond  to  this,  and  say  “Well  done.”  We  stand  amazed  at  the 
corruption  of  the  Roman  church  and  its  willingness  to  foster  crime 
for  reward,  and  “frame  iniquity  by  a  law.”  And  yet  in  this  year  , 
of  grace,  four  hundred  years  later  in  the  history  of  the  church  and  ! 
the  world,  the  people  of  America  and  England  deliberately  con-  ( 
sent  to  debauch  their  sons  and  their  daughters  by  licensing  the  j 
sale  of  alcoholic  liquors,  in  full  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  in  so  J 
doing  we  are  licensing  all  crimes,  and  opening  the  way  for  all  j 
abuses  ;  knowing  that  in  doing  so  we  cripple  the  church  and  the  ’ 
school,  and  blast  our  civilization ;  entirely  cognizant  of  the  fact 
that  in  this  we  take  the  devil’s  side  against  the  Lor4,  crucify 
Christ  afresh  and  put  him  to  an  open  shame.  A  thousand  Tetzels 
with  indulgences  for  sin  were  a  vastly  less  evil  than  two  hundred 
thousand  venders  of  alcoholic  poisons. 

And  what  has  the  church  done?  It  has  feebly  remonstrated. 

It  has  cautiously  intimated  that  the  traffic  was  not  a  proper  one 
for  church  members  to  take  part  in.  It  has  mildly  admitted  that 
it  was  not  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  and  that  if 
left  wholly  uncontrolled  it  might  be  dangerous  to  the  community. 

It  has  sought  to  mitigate  the  evil ;  not  to  eradicate  it.  To  mollify 
the  curse  ;  not  to  end  it.  On  some  rare  occasions  it  has,  indeed, 
assumed  a  stronger  tone  ;  and  has  actually,  in  words,  appeared  to 
speak  for  truth  and  righteousness.  But  when  we  looked  for  the 


lO 


result  in  action  we  have  always  been  disappointed.  We  look  in 
vain  for  the  righteous  indignation  which  should  smite  such  a  sin 
as  with  a  blast  of  the  breath  of  the  Almighty.  Up  to  the  present 
writing  a  large  majority  of  the  professed  Christians  of  America 
give  their  influence  directly  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  evil.  They 
sit  in  council  with  rumsellers  ;  nominate  them  to  their  highest 
civil  offices,  and  elect  them  when  nominated.  They  even  submit 
to  their  dictation  as  though  they  were  born  to  be  lords  over  God’s 
heritage,  instead  of  being  regarded  as  the  impersonations  of  the 
kingdom  of  darkness— which  they  really  are.  And  while  not  wil¬ 
ling  to  guarantee  to  the  rumseller  a  place  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  they  do  not  scruple  to  make  him  the  custodian  of  their 
church  funds  and  the  director  of  the  church  in  temporal  matters. 
To  my  mind  this  shows  a  degree  of  practical  wickedness  in  the 
church  never  exceeded  in  any  age.  If  the  Roman  church  has  any 
stains  of  deeper  hue  I  do  not  know  where  to  find  them.  If  she 
was  ever  more  completely  under  the  power  of  evil  it  would  be 
interesting  to  have  the  time  and  place  specified.  The  church  of 
Rome  has  at  least  taught  that  it  was  its  duty  to  control  abuses. 
We  have  weakly  and  wickedly  denied  our  obligations  in  civil 
affairs  ,  while,  as  Christians,  we  are  the  dupes  of  demagogues,  and 
the  willing  tools  of  designing  and  wicked  men.  If  this  is  progress 
towards  the  perfection  of  the  church,  surely  it  can  only  be  true 
in  the  sense  that  the  darkest  hour  is  just  before  the  day. 

It  would  be  easy  to  extend  such  illustrations  of  our  mammon 
worship,  ^hich  alone  could  make  such  things  possible.  But  I 
must  hasten  to  mention  some  other  points ;  for  we  have  merely 
grazed  the  surface  of  our  national  sins,  which  cannot  be  separated 
from  the  sins  of  the  church  ;  for  the  church  is  responsible,  whether 
she  chooses  to  consider  herself  so  or  not,  for  the  civilization  which 
is  the  product  of  her  activity,  or  want  of  activity. 


THE  SOCIAL  EVIL. 


‘  There  are  other  things  which  detract  from  the  purity  of  the 
church.  There  are  wounds  and  bruises  and  putrefying  sores  ” 
on  what  should  be  the  fair  and  pure  body  of  the  bride,  which 
make  her  quite  unfit  for  the  marriage  of  the  great  day.  Concen¬ 
trated  in  some  of  our  Western  Territories,  in  Utah  and  neighbor- 


ti 

ing  sections,  ate  plague  spots,  which  merely  typify  or  illustrate  the 
social  vices  prevailing  throughout  Christendom.  They  could  not 
exist  there  but  for  the  corrupt  condition  of  society  which  makes 
even  their  enormities  seem  excusable.  I  leave  this  part  of  the 
subject  for  abler  pens.  Those  who  care  for  information  will  not 
have  far  to  seek  it.  I  only  bring  it  into  the  evidence.  But  this 
social  vice  is  an  issue  that  must,  at  no  very  distant  day,  be  met  by  ^ 
the  church  ;  and  this  demon  will  die  hard,  harder  than  the  demon 
of  alcohol  ;(and  what  ruin  it  may  work  before  being  exorcised 
who  can  tell?  Against  this  vice  the  church  is  just  as  powerless 
as  against  the  liquor  traffic,  and  more  silent.  She  upholds  all  the 
evils  of  rum  by  licensing  the  sale  ;  so  she  upholds  the  evils  of  the  | 
social  vice  by-maintaining  those  institutions  which  are  consecrated  ;  1 
■^TheTunholyriflffi,  as  nearly  all  our  places  of  public  amusement 
are :  theatres,  operas  and  public  balls.  Such  places;exist  as  much 
for  ministering  to  such  unholy  rites  as  the  worship'  of  Baal  and 
Ash^roth  among  the  heathen  nations  existed  to  this  end.  And, 
liquor  traffic  is  the  hot-bed  of  drunkenness  and  the  crimes 
that  follow  from  it,  so  our  theatres,  operas  and  dance  halls  are  the 
hot-beds  of  social  vices  ;  the  hatching  place  of  social  crimes. 

None  of  the  great  social  abuses  could  exist  except  with  the 
consent  of  the  church.  She  is  able,  if  she  cared  to  do  rt,  to  put 
them  away.  She  does  not  care  to  do  it  and  they  remain.  A  church 
that  does  not  desire  the  social  and  moral  purity  that  the  gospel  ^ 
enjoins  is  not  a  church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  A  church  that 
limits  itself  to  the  effecting  of  an  insurance  policy  on  the  life  to 
come  is  a  church  whose  policy  of  life  insurance  is  not  worth  pur-  j 
chasing. 

A  recent  writer,  treating  of  the  subject  of  Christian  morality 
and  the  duty  of  the  church  to  society,  says  :  “Our  future  treat¬ 
ment  of  moral  questions  must  be  social  rather  than  individual. 
This  last  conclusion  brings  us  face  to  face  with  one  of  the  most 
marked  and  injurious  characteristics  of  the  present  time.  The 
Christian  church  in  all  its  branches  feels  the  currents  of  the  new 
national  life  slowly  and  imperfectly.  Their  declension  has  been 
so  marked  that  it  has  been  recently  charged  against  them  by  an 
able  editor,  who  wrote  in  sorrow  rather  than  anger,  that  he  was 
unable  to  recall  a  single  instance  where  conversion  or  joining  the 


12 


church  has  been  followed  by  a  vigorous,  healthy,  earnest,  Christ- 
like  denunciation  of  the  evils  which  lie  at  the  base  of  society,  or 
'  of  a  continued  and  persistent  effort  to  overthrow  or  even  to  under¬ 
stand  the  causes  which  are  sending  thousands  to  untimely  graves, 
filling  jails  and  asylums  and  state  prisons  with  broken  and  dis¬ 
honored  images  of  Christ,  and  piuch  less  slowly  than  surely  under¬ 
mining  the  temple  of  liberty  ahd  justice  the  world  over.” 

And  this  is  Protestant  Christianity,  the  cream  of  Christian  life. 

We  have  before  looked  throughout  Christendom  in^vain  to  find 
much  of  excellence  outside  of  Protestant  Christianity,  and  we  find 
a  very  poor  showing  here.  What  else  has  Christianity  to  show 
us?  Nothing.  Allow,  if  you  please,  that  we  have  emphasized 
the  evil,  and  that  some  good  remains  that  we  have  not  discovered.  • 
While  this  is  doubtless  true,  we  have  conceded  itftch  of  excellence^  \ 
to  our  churches  historically  and  have  said  thrA  mey  hold  in  their 
communions  nearly  all  the  moral  force  of  the  nation.  But  all  this 
good  is  hopelessly  handicapped  with  evil.  There  needs  and  must 
come  a  separation  before  the  church  will  be  ready  for  any  aggres- 
sive  work  against  sin. 

*  THE  WORSHIP  OF  MAMMON. 

What  is  the  cause  of  all  this  sin  and  consent  to  sin  on  the  part 
of  the  church,  where  we  should  expect  to  find  purity  ?  I  have 
striven  long  and  earnestly  to  solve  this  problem,  and  have  given 
many  years  of  profoundest  inquiry  to  the  subject  ;  and  I  am  thor- 

1'  oughly  persuaded  that  the  one  corrupting  influence  which  neu¬ 
tralizes  all  the  virtues  of  the  church,  and  betrays  it  everywhere 
into  sin,  is  the  worship  of  mammon.  It  is  for  mammon’s  sake 
that  every  abuse  is  tolerated,  and  the  vilest  men  exalted  to  high 
places.  It  is  for  the  sake  of  worldly  pride  and  worldly  influence 
that  corrupt  men  are  welcomed  into  the  church  ;  or,  where  their 
vices  are  too  odious  to  make  this  possible,  that  such  men  are 
made  “the  custodians  of  the  temporal  interests”  of  the  church. 

It  is  the  worship  of  mammon  that  thrusts  the  pious  poor  man  aside 
that  the  voluptuous  may  take  all  the  places  of  honor.  It  is  the  worship 
of  mammon  that  gives  vice  encouragement  and  degrades  virtue  ; 
that  leads  a  professedly  Christian  people  to  debauch  their  sons  and 
daughters  by  licensing  the  sale  of  rum,  and  that  pollutes  its  trea- 


^3 


sury  with  the  price  of  blood.  It  is  the  worship  of  mammon  that 
upholds  grinding  monopolies,  and  denies  that  common  justice 
and  regard  for  the  common  welfare  which  is  the  very  corner-stone 
of  our  free  republic. 

That  the  church  of  the  present  day  is  a  partner  in  much  of  this 
iniquity  some  will  deny,  especially  the  priest  of  mammon  and  his 
faithful  devotees.  That  they  will  deny  it  is  a  matter  of  course  ; 
for  this  god  is  worshiped  by  the  church  not  openly,  but  by  stealth, 
by  every  man  “  in  the  chambers  of  his  imagery,”  as  so  graphically 
described  by  the  prophet  Ezekiel  in  the  8th  chapter  of  his  prophecy. 
And  yet,  while  secret  in  its  worship  of  mammon,  the  church  is 
not  secret  in  its  union  with  those  outside  of  the  church  who  openly 
build  altars  to  this  idol.  Like  the  kings  of  Judah,  the  church 
makes  alliances  with  the  idolatrous  kings  of  the  false  Israel,  and 
their  priests  fraternize  and  join  the  worship  of  Jehovah  with  the 
worship  of  Baal.  The  priest  of  mammon  sits  without  rebuke  in 
the  convocations  of  the  godly  ;  nay,  is  welcomed  there,  often  the 
most  honored  and  most  welcome  guest ;  and  the  special  zeal  of  the 
times  is  to  so  perfect  this  union  that  it  shall  be  eternal.  In  this 
way  the  God  of  love  is  rapidly  being  dethroned  from  the  control 
of  the  Christian  conscience,  and  the  god  of  power,  of  lust  and 
rapine  is  set  up  in  his  place. 

COMPROMISE  WITH  SIN. 

As  a  people  we  have  never  once  in  our  history  touched  a  moral 
question  in  a  Christian  method.  We  have  never  once  risen  above 
those  paltry  and  wicked  compromises  with  evil  which  show  our 
consciousness  of  the  sin,  and  our  urLillingness  to  abandon  it. 
And  what  is  worse  is  the  fact  that  our  leading  men  in  the  church 
endorse  this  plan  as  sagacious  and  wise,  anc^take  pride  in  their 
superior  shrewdness  in  thus  being  able  to  serve  both  God  and 
mammon,  to  retain  their  rich  pulpits  and  rich  but  godless  commu¬ 
nicants,  save  themselves  from  the  odium  of  denouncing  sin  or 
preaching  righteousness  ;  and  thus  gain  all  the  worldly  advantages 
of  present  success,  with  the  secret  intention  of  going  over  to  the 
other  side  whenever  the  self-sacrifice  of  men  who  truly  fear  God 
shall  so  far  open  the  way  that  they  can  do  it  without  personal 
sacrifice  or  with  the  added  advantage  of  worldly  promotion. 


This  being  the  policy  of  the  leaders  in  church  and  state,  it  is 
not  at  all  wonderful  that  their  followers  should  take  the  same 
course,  and  put  self  first  and  God  last ;  self  first  and  humanity 
last ;  self  first  and  righteousness,  truth  and  holiness  last — or  not 
at  all. 

In  this  way  every  evil  has  been  augmented  by  moral  cowardice. 
God  has  spoken  once,  yea  twice,  in  the  history  of  this  nation  ; 
and  the  hardened  consciences  of  these  men  defy  him  just  as  of 
old.  A  million  of  lives  and  seven  thousand  millions  of  dollars 
were  sacrificed  to  this  spirit  of  selfishness  in  the  slave-holders’ 
rebellion  ;  which,  but  for  the  concurrent  wickedness  of  the  North 
as  well  as  the  South,  would  have  been  impossible.  And  now, 
rather  than  do  righteousness,  a  wicked  church  is  willing  to  incur 
the  divine  displeasure  and  run  the  risk  of  vastly  greater  sacrifice 
of  blood  and  treasure.  I  do  not  see  how  it  will  come,  but  that  it 
will  come  I  have  no  doubt.  I  know  of  nothing  in  human  history 
that  so  fittingly  illustrates  our  position  and  our  peril  as  the  history 
of  the  kings  of  Israel  and  of  Judah  during  those  terrible  years  of 
decline  that  followed  the  reign  of  Solomon  and  ended  with  the 
carrying  away  into  Babylon.  If  national  disasters  of  equal  mag¬ 
nitude  do  not  reach  us  it  will  not  be  because  we  are  less  guilty, 
but  because  God,  in  his  infinite  mercy,  has  found  some  means  of 
escape  for  a  guilty  people.  The  rum  traffic  is  our  Baal,  and  lust 
is  our  Ashteroth  ;  and  our  worship  of  those  is  no  less  conspicuous 
and  marked  than  was  the  worship  of  those  divinities  in  ancient 
Israel  and  Judah.  We  should  not  deceive  ourselves  with  the  idea 
that  we  are  innocent  because  only  a  small  minority  worship  these 
bestial  divinities,  while  a  respectable  majority  protest.  The  pro¬ 
testing  majority  is  too  smallj^nd  its  protestations  too  feeble  to 
arrest  the  divine  displeasure.  Israel  and  Judah  reformed  and 
compromised  generation  after  generation,  and  sunk  continually 
lower  until  they  were  destroyed.  Whether  we  shall  reach  the 
same  end  remains  to  be  seen,  but  there  is  a  striking  resem¬ 
blance  to  their  course  in  everything  we  do.  Like  them  we  are 
aWays  reforming  and  every  generation  sinking  lower  than  the 
p^ceding  generation  was  in  its  regard  for  virtue.  What  the  end 
will  be  I  will  not  venture  to  prophesy.  'But  of  one  thing  we  may 
be  sure,  and  that  is  that  we  have  reached  nothing  in  the  way  of 


15 


reformation  that  guarantees  at  all  any  hope  of  prosperity  ;  and,  if 
such  hope  has  anything  to  rest  on,  it  is  in  something  vastly  beyon'^ 
anything  yet  attempted,  or  in  the  “uncovenanted  mercies  ( 


God.” 


THE  GREAT  MISSIONARY  FAILURE. 


3.  The  wants  of  heathen  nations,  who  are  cursed  by  the  vices 
of  our  civilization  more  than  they  are  benefited  by  an  emasculated 
.Christianity. 

Our  missions  are  but  a  small  part  of  our  influence  abroad.  It  ‘ 
is  our  commerce  that  is  the  great  factor  in  the  spread  of  our  civil¬ 
ization.  We  are  judged,  not  by  what  our  missionaries  say,  but 
by  what  our  merchants  do.  Our  religion  is  judged  in  the  light  of 
our  morality  and  in  the  degree  in  which  it  has  molded  our  nation 
and  people.  What  reason  have  we  to  ask  heathen  nations  to  dis¬ 
tinguish  between  our  practices  and  our  professions?  We  judge 
heathen  nations,  not  by  the  precepts  in  their  sacred  books,  but  by 
what  we  see  of  their  daily  life,  and  the  influence  of  those  teach¬ 
ings  upon  the  people.  So  we  are  judged,  and  so  we  shall  be 
judged,  despite  any  explanations  which  we  may  try  to  make ;  and 
what  they  see  of  the  American  and  foreign  residents  in  their  com¬ 
mercial  ports  or  in  our  great  cities  does  not  commend  it. 

We  are  told  that  in  Constantinople  the  Mohammedans  say  when  ■/ 
they  see  a  drunkard  that  he  has  “left  Mahomet  and  gone  to 
Jesus.”  With  Christian  countries  all  under  the  curse  of  rum  it  is 
not  a  very  strange  inference  that  drunkenness  is  a  part  of  our 
religion  ;  and  there  are  not  wanting  those  in  this  country  who 
deliberately  take  this  outrageous  position  without  the  excuse 
which  the  Mohammedan  can  offer  for  failing  to  make  a  proper 
distinction  between  our  theories  and  our  practice. 

So,  in  my  judgment,  we  shall  be  judged  by  our  morality  rather 
than  by  any  theories  of  a  philosophical  nature  in  the  eyes  of  the 
heathen  world ;  and  if  we  fail  to  control  vice  at  home  we  may 
throw  to  the  winds  our  hope  of  converting  the  world  to  Christ. 

If  sensuality  is  to  rule  Christian  lands  the  heathen  nations  will 
prefer  their  own  forms  of  sensuality  to  ours.  Witness  further, 
on  this  last  point,  the  curse  inflicted  on  Africa  by  the  sale  of  rum ; 


i6 


and  the  depopulation  of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  which  have  suf- 
fered  from  a  contact  with  our  civilization. 

4.  The  despair  of  present  methods  of  Christian  work,  and  their 
want  of  effectiveness  in  bringing  to  the  front  in  human  society 
the  best  elements  of  Christian  life  and  character,  especially  in 
view  of  the  imminence  of  the  final  great  battle  for  truth  and 
righteousness. 

The  result  of  Christian  work  in  the  past  is  certainly  not  alto¬ 
gether  satisfactory.  There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  much  of 
the  ripened  fruit  of  Christian  character  or  culture.  We  have  not 
yet  reached  the  realization  of  the  hopes  of  the  Christian  fathers. 
Our  ideal  of  excellence  is  clearly  beyond  the  results  achieved.  All 
the  prophecies  both  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New  point  us 
to  something  more  perfect  in  Christian  development  than  we  have 
yet  reached. 

The  church,  strong  in  numbers,  is  weak  in  consecration.  It 
stands  paralyzed  in  the  presence  of  evil,  charmed  by  the  wily 
serpent  who  has  so  long  befooled  the  human  race.  The 
church  studies  the  arts  of  peace  ;  peace  at  any  price,  at  any 
sacrifice,  at  any  neglect  of  its  most  sacred  duties.  It  has  no  use 
for  the  weapons  which  Paul  said,  in  his  day,  were  mighty  through 
God  to  the  pulling  down  of  the  strongholds  of  sin  and  Satan.  It 
has  made  no  preparation  for  a  warfare  with  sin,  for  it  has  no  in¬ 
tention  of  waging  any  warfare.  It  is  evident,  and  will  appear 
evident  to  any  one  who  will  give  the  subject  consideration,  that 
this  warfare  will  be  fought  not  by  the  churches,  but  by  Christians 
who  have  grace  enough  to  come  out  from  them  and  stand  up  for 
truth  and  righteousness.  The  church  attacks  no  evil,  but  yields 
to  all  with  no  resistance  or  with  the  merest  pretence  of  resistance. 
But  were  she  willing  to  enter  into  any  such  warfare  she  is  wholly 
unprepared  for  it.  The  modern  church  was  not  organized  to 
represent  the  church  militant.  It  seems  to  have  been  built  on 
a  peace  basis.  Unable  to  coax  men  to  come  to  her  sacred  stand¬ 
ard,  she  has  condescended,  for  the  sake  of  worldly  advantage,  to 
go  to  the  world,  and  to  meet  it  more  than  half  way.  Have  we 
not  reason  to  despair  of  the  present  methods  of  Christian  work  ? 

The  church  is  not  merely  unwilling  to  attempt  the  work  of 
reform,  but  it  is  incompetent.  It  cannot  do  any  one  of  a  thou- 


17 


sand  things  that  are  demanded  of  the  church  of  the  future.  The 
new  wine  must  be  put  into  new  bottles.  Those  who  imagine 
that  the  work  to  be  done  can  be  done  by  the  present  churches 
have  a  very  inadequate  idea  of  the  work  demanded. 

We  have  had  an  era  of  profound  peace  with  evil.  I  believe  there  , 
is  nothing  that  the  church  of  the  present  day  fears  so  much  as  to  , 
disturb  Satan.  It  cares  little  whether  the  Lord  of  life  and  glory 
is  pleased  or  displeased  ;  but  it  is  profoundly  solicitous  as  to  hoAV 
the  Devil  shall  take  its  action.  If  he  should  be  displeased  and 
fail  to  endorse  its  policy,  there  would  be  trouble  m  the  church 
at  once.  And  this  is  true  of  all  branches  of  the  church.  It  is  not 
for  Protestants  to  charge  this  upon  Catholics,  or  Catholics  to 
charge  it  upon  Protestants,  or  members  of  the  Greek  communion. 
All  are  guilty  before  God.  I  have  never  once  seen  any  decided 
action  of  the  church  against  the  arch  enemy  of  souls.  Now  there  \ 
are  in  all  branches  of  the  church  good  and  true  men  who  person-  j 
ally  oppose  the  Devil,  and  many  of  them  imagine  that  the  church  , 
of  their  choice  does  the  same  thing.  They  will  not  endorse  the 
above  language,  for  they  are  not  instructed.  They  know  that . 
they,  individually,  mean  to  conquer  sin ;  and,  with  what  they 
regard  as  Christian  charity,  attribute  their  own  virtue  to  the 
church  to  which  they  belong.  They  have  become  accustomed  to 
excuse  defects,  and  to  endorse  compromises  with  evil,  until  their 
consciences  are  not  offended  ;  and  having  no  higher  ideal,  they  are 
satisfied.  But  there  are  others  who  are  gradually  becoming  aware 
of  the  real  conditions  of  the  problem  ;  who  are  asking  what  the 
church  is  doing  or  trying  to  do  ;  who  are  dissatisfied  with  hollow 
truces  and  perpetual  peace  with  evil  ;  who  believe  that  the  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven  is  more  than  meat  and  drink.  There  are  those 
who  begin  to  look  abroad  upon  the  nations  and  who  have  caught 
some  conception  of  the  “  solidiarity  of  humanity.”  They  begin 
at  last  to  see  that  individual  religion  will  not  save  society,  and 
that  a  man  is  responsible  for  the  systems  of  iniquity  which  he 
upholds.  There  are  those  who  have  some  little  conception  of  the 
relations  of  religion  to  society  and  to  human  government,  to  social 
usages,  and  to  all  those  questions  upon  which  the  happiness  and 
prosperity  of  the  toiling  millions  rest. 

They  have,  in  other  words,  a  higher  ideal  of  excellence  than 


i8 


that  which  they  see  realized  in  government,  in  social  usages,  and 
in  the  spirit  and  aims  of  modern  society.  They  cannot  regard  the 
selfish  apathy  of  so-called  Christian  people  as  really  Christian. 
They  wish  to  see  the  spirit  of  Christ  dictate,  as  it  does  not  now 
dictate,  social  and  civil  life.  They  know  that  it  would  soon 
banish  the  horrible  evils  to  which  we  have  become  so  accustomed 
as  to  look  upon  them  with  indifference.  They  see  that  vice  and 
crime  is  an  outgrowth  as  much  of  false  aims  in  society  as  of  weak¬ 
ness  in  individuals.  They  see  that  the  poverty  and  unrest  of 
millions  is  unnecessary  and  unchristian.  They  see  heavy  burdens 
bound  upon  the  poor  which  our  ruling  classes  are  unwilling  “to 
touch  with  one  of  their  fingers.”  They  see  a  low  order  of  virtue, 
base  and  worldly  aims,  sensuality  and  ignorance,  where  a  higher 
order  of  virtue,  Christian  aims  and  intelligent  Christian  action  are 
called  for  by  the  spirit  of  our  religion  and  all  the  sacred  claims  of 
God  upon  us. 

At  the  close  of  nineteen  centuries  of  Christian  endeavor  we  are 
able  to  count  so  many  millions  of  those  who  are  known  as  Chris¬ 
tians,  or  live  in  lands  whose  governments  acknowledge  Chris¬ 
tianity.  It  matters  little  to  our  argument  how  many  millions  are 
counted.  The  only  test  of  value  is  the  character  of  the  civiliza¬ 
tion  of  nominally  Christian  countries  and  the  individual  character 
of  the  people.  We  have  seen  that  the  civilization  represented  is 
shockingly  low,  when  taken  at  its  best.  Of  its  darker  phases,  as 
seen  in  despotic  Russia,  in  Austria,  Roumelia  and  Turkey,  it  would 
be  impossible  to  treat  intelligently  here.  Long  study  and  careful 
research  can  alone  uncover  the  dark  places  filled  with  the  habita¬ 
tions  of  cruelty,  which  do  much  towards  keeping  heathenism  in 
countenance,  and  which  show  that  Christianity  must  be  something 
more  than  a  name  before  the  glories  of  the  millennial  era  can  be 
ushered  in.  In  Germany,  Sweden,  Norway,  England  and  America, 
we  find  more  intelligence  and,  let  us  hope,  more  of  the  spirit  of 
Jesus.  And  we  will  find  in  all  Christian  countries  some  real  Chris¬ 
tians  ;  some  whose  lives  correspond,  as  nearly  as  their  surround¬ 
ings  render  it  possible,  with  the  teachings  of  Christ  as  they 
understand  those  teachings.  “  Many  shall  come  from  the  East 
and  from  the  West  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham,  Isaac  and 
Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.”  But  how  few  !  alas,  how  lew  ! 


19 


When  we  take  the  most  hopeful  view  of  the  case,  and  look  with 
the  largest  charity  and  construe  the.  divine  law  as  leniently  as  we 
.  dare  construe  it,  the  really  true  and  conscientious  whom  we  may 
I  rationally  hope  will  be  accepted  among  the  chosen  jewels  of  the 
'  Son  of  God,  are  found  to  be  few  indeed.  It  would  seem  that 
some  revival  of  the  ancient  faith  were  indeed  a  thing  to  be  prayed 
for,  hoped  for,  longed  for. 

There  are  many  things  at  present  which  remind  us  of  the  era 
which  ushered  in  the  Gospel  dispensation.  The  influx  of  modem 
spiritism  is  a  most  significant  event.  Whether  for  good  or  evil, 
‘  whether  true  or  false,  it  has  stirred  to  new  conceptions  of  life 
millions  of  people.  It  has  gone  down  to  the  atheist  and  has 
awakened  in  him  conceptions  of  a  future  life  before  despaired  of. 
Though  but  a  faint  glimmering,  it  has  given  light  upon  the  path  of 
life  to  large  classes  of  people  who  were  before  neglected,  who, 
for  one  cause  or  another,  had  cut  themselves  off  from  church  re¬ 
lations,  and  were  drifting  without  even  a  star  to  light  them  over 
the  dim  unknown  of  an  ocean  they  were  compelled  to  cross. 

THE  CHURCH  BEHIND  THE  AGE. 

It  is  not  the  church  which  is  moved,  so  much  as  the  world  of 
mankind.  And  so  it  was  in  the  times  of  Christ.  The  great  heart 
of  universal  humanity  beats  with  new  hopes,  and  the  minds  of 
men  are  plastic,  awaiting  new  revelations,  ready  to  be  molded 
into  new  forms  of  excellence,  to  take  on  new  forms  of  thought  and 
new  modes  of  action.  So  we  stand  to-day  for  the  first  time  during 
the  Christian  ages  where  Paul  and  the  other  Apostles  stood  ;  we 
see  the  same  or  greater  developments  of  moral  forces.  And  this 
new  life  did  not  begin  yesterday.  For  several  generations  it  has 
been  agitating  the  nations.  As  a  Christian  poet  has  well  sung, 

“  ’Tis  an  age  on  ages  telling. 

To  be  living  is  sublime.” 

A  State  of  expectancy  has  been  created  which  must  come  to 
some  grand  result  or  leave  a  sense  of  disappointment  that  would 
of  itself  paralyze  all  Christian  endeavor.  Instead  of  speaking  of 
an  era  to  come,  it  would  be  more  accurate  to  speak  of  an  era 


20 


already  come,  and  well  advanced  towards  the  perfect  day.  The 
sun  of  this  new  day  is  already  far  above  the  horizon.  But  alas !  it  is. 
not  a  morning  without  clouds.  Fogs  and  darkness  hang  around 
it.  It  reminds  one  of  some  mornings  in  spring,  when  the  hills  are 
tinged  with  a  radiance  of  glory  and  the  brightest  of  mornings  is 
dawning.  But  before  the  sun  has  fairly  risen,  storm-clouds  gather 
in  the  sky  and  obscure  the  brightness.  So  in  the  case  of  this  new 
day.  The  gathering  storms  have,  for  a  time,  obstructed  the  com¬ 
ing  light  ;  and  we  are  too  much  interested  in  the  coming  storm  to 
note  the  coming  of  the  day.  But  even  so  this  promise  is  signifi¬ 
cant  ;  and  the  threatened  storms  do  not  belie  the  prophecy.  What  * 
era  ever  was  ushered  in  without  social  and  civil  convulsions  ? 
What  new  era  ever  satisfied  the  scribes  of  the  old  dispensation  ?  ‘ 
They  have  personally  much  to  lose  and  little  to  gain  from  the 
overturning  that  must  come.  They  have  never  at  any  time  gone 
forth  with  banners  to  meet  the  coming  king.  The  lights  of  their 
own  invention  please  them  better  than  the  sun  of  righteousness 
that  arises  with  healing  in  his  wings.  So  we  see  to-day  the 
church  but  little  moved  in  the  presence  of  these  mighty  forces, 
that  are  raising  humanity  to  a  higher  level. 

In  view  of  these  facts  many  of  our  best  men  have  come  to  a 
settled  despair  of  any  success  in  restoring  primitive  Christianity, 
much  less  of  reaching  a  higher  Christian  ideal,  through  any  means, 
now  at  our  command. 

They  despair  not  merely  of  the  present  methods  of  Christian 
j  work,  but  of  the  church  as  now  organized  to  do  any  more 
I  than  it  has  already  done  or  is  now  doing;  which,  however 
I  beautiful  in  itself,  is  not  the  work  demanded  for  the  destruc- 
y  tion  of  organized  error  or  the  fighting  of  the  battle  of  the  great 
day. 

THE  MILLENNIAL  ERA. 

But  a  revival  of  the  ancient  faith  is  not  enough.  We  cannot 
put  the  oak  back  into  the  acorn,  or  the  man  of  years  into  the  in¬ 
fant’s  cradle.  The  millennial  era  will  not  be  a  repetition  of  the 
Apostolic  age.  It  will,  and  must  embody  new  characteristics,  as. 
widely  separated  from  the  condition  of  the  infant  church  planted 
by  the  apostles  as  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in  the  clouds  witha 


21 


power  and  great  glory  differs  from  his  appearance  to  the  shep- 
Tierds  as  the  babe  of  Bethlehem.  We  have  had  the  flower  ;  we 
look  for  the  fruit.  Or,  if  a  new  blossoming  is  in  the  order  of  the 
Divine  working,  it  is  a  blossoming  which  makes  a  flower  garden 
of  the  desert,  or  the  genial  breath  of  a  springtime  that  awakens 
all  nature  throughout  an  entire  hemisphere  and  touches  the  souls 
of  millions  emancipated  from  the  drudgery  of  sin  ;  a  time  in  which 
whole  nations  shall  be  born  in  a  day. 

Is  such  an  era  imminent  ?  Are  there  any  indications  that  fore¬ 
shadow  it  ?  What  means  the  widespread  expectation  of  the  second 
coming  of  Christ  ?  What  means  the  general  expectation  of  some 
coming  glory?  The  rising  to  higher  planes  of  thought  of  the 
millions  ?  The  breaking  down  of  the  barriers  which  for  ages  have 
held  the  nations  enslaved  and  have  separated  them  from  others  ? 
Iron  yokes  of  bondage  that  from  the  dawn  of  human  history  have 
never  been  broken  begin  to  yield  to  new  and  powerful  influences. 
We  have  come  to  emphasize  once  more  the  dignity  of  human  na¬ 
ture.  Our  own  great  country  is  teaching  this  lesson.  The  experi¬ 
ment  of  a  free  government  which  has  entered  into  its  second  century 
is  in  itself  preaching  a  gospel  which  is  heard  by  the  enslaved  people 
of  other  lands.  But  down  deeper  than  this  renewed  political  life 
die  the  springs  of  a  new  social  era.  We  stand  once  more  in  the 
•centre  of  the  world  as  Athens  did  of  old.  In  our  great  cities  all 
nations  are  represented,  and  we  begin  to  understand  again  what 
Paul  expressed  so  eloquently  when,  standing  in  the  Acropolis  in 
queenly  Athens,  he  said  :  “God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  na¬ 
tions  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth.’’ 

What  will  be  the  effect  of  the  preaching  of  a  new  dispensation  ? 
A  higher  conception  of  excellence  will  be  put  forth  as  the  rule 
and  aim  in  life.  War  will  be  proclaimed  against  evil.  The  deadly 
truce  with  sin  will  be  broken.  Thought  will  be  awakened.  Long 
buried  truths  will  leap  to  the  front  and  be  recognized.  The 
-awakened  Christian  conscience  will  soon  learn  to  detest  evils 
which  are  now  tolerated  without  question,  and  an  army  will  be 
raised  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Lord.  The  ease-loving  will  neg¬ 
lect,  and  the  carnal  will  oppose  the  movement.  The  church  has 
never  gone  forward  as  a  unit  in  any  reform,  and  we  have  little 
■reason  to  believe  it  ever  will.  Thejews  still  reject  Christ,  eighteen 


22 


hundred  and  fifty  years  after  they  crucified  him.  Romanists  still 
deify  the  Pope.  The  Buddhists  never  exterminated  the  Brahmins, 
though  for  many  centuries  they  have  been  immensely  popular,  and 
now  outnumber  the  Christian  population  of  the  entire  globe.  And 
so  everywhere  throughout  history.  There  is  a  residuum  who  see 
some  good  in  the  old,  and  maintain  it  long  after  God  has  raised  a 
higher  standard. 

So  to-day  a  new  standard  will  divide  the  church  ;  and  if  it  failed 
to  divide  it,  it  would  do  no  good.  It  must  exclude  as  well  as 
include.  Here  is  where  its  virtue  lies. 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF, 

The  reason,  the  great  reason,  why  we  can  do  little  in  the  church 
at  present,  is  because  it  is  so  much  under  the  power  of  evil  that 
bad  men  in  the  church  neutralize,  and  will  continue  to  neutralize, 
all  the  good  attempted  by  the  godly.  They  cover  up  their  designs 
under  specious  pretexts.  They  use  honeyed  words  and  deceive 
good  men.  But  in  their  hearts  they  obey  Satan  and  study  the 
interests  of  his  kingdom.  Let  any  reform  be  proposed,  these  men 
come  to  the  front  and  plead  for  conservatism.  To  the  full  extent 
of  their  influence  they  antagonize  any  forward  movement  against 
evil ;  and  they  have  generally  influence  enough  to  prevent  action, 
— except  in  special  cases,  where,  through  long  and  persistent 
eflTort,  some  subject  like  the  temperance  question  is  forced  upon 
an  unwilling  church,  until  for  shame’s  sake,  it  is  forced  to  take 
sides  against  the  evil.  But,  even  in  these  exceptional  cases,  this 
evil  element  hinders  action  and  postpones  indefinitely  any  ag¬ 
gressive  work.  But  in  regard  to  the  hundreds  of  other  questions, 
in  which  there  is  not  the  same  chance  for  the  aggregation  of  pub¬ 
lic  sentiment,  this  conservative  element  is  all-powerful  for  evil. 

The  new  church,  on  the  contrary,  must  of  necessity  be  a  unit  on 
every  moral  issue.  Like  the  church  founded  by  John  the  Baptist 
in  the  wilderness  of  Judea,  and  adopted  by  Christ,  it  will  be  a 
church  raised  for  moral  issues  ;  a  church  that  believes  in  practical 
endeavor,  not  in  sentimentality ;  a  church  into  which  will  flow 
naturally  all  the  elements  of  good,  and  where  good  men  will  be 
welcomed  and  have  a  sphere  of  labor  which  is  denied  them  in  the 
present  condition  of  Christianity. 

The  bringing  together  of  this  band  of  faithful  men  and  women 
will  be  in  itself  a  mighty  power  for  good,  and  with  it  will  come 
the  Divine  blessing  and  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  What 
hinders  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  answer  to  the  prayers 
of  God’s  people  ?  Manifestly  the  sins  for  which  we  are  made 
responsible  by  our  association  with  bad  men.  How  were  it 
possible  for  the  Holy  Ghost  to  be  present  in  churches  compro¬ 
mised  with  evil  ? 


23 


But  we  may  be  told  that  we  should  not  be  too  precipitate  in 

should  wait  for  the  outpouring  of  the 
enterprise.  We  may  observe  here  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  did  not  come  upon  John  the  Baptist,  and  that  a 
fhpre'^^h°”  later  his  followers  had  not  so  much  as  heard  whether 
foere  be  any  Holy  Ghost  It  was  not  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  m  Its  outward  manifestation  that  ushered  in  the  Christian 
era  bo  we  may  wait  till  the  Judgment  Day  before  an  unrepent- 

ftforeseSn^^  Ghost  from 

^  1  tie  obedient. 

We  must  separate  ourselves  from  sinners  in  the  church.  We  must 

tfon  of  tL  M  w‘th  Satan.  We  must  obey  the  injunc- 

withdraw  ourselves  from  “every  brother 
according  to  the  comm'kndmeS 
pven.  When  we  shall  have  done  these  things  ;  when  we  shall 
th  repentance  known  through  our  works  ;  and  when 

^  one  accord  in  one  place  for  many  days 

as  the  disciples  were  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  then  we  mav  hone 
outpouring  of  the  spirit  of  power  which  will  lead  us  forth 
prepared  for  the  conquest  of  the  world. 

the  characteristics  of  the  new  era. 

But  what  will  be  the  characteristics  of  this  new  era  ?  What  will 
doctrine  polity,  etc.  ?  As  to  polity,  it  will  be  neithS 
Catholic  m  a  divisive  sense,  but  both  Protestant 
and  Catholic  in  the  true  sense  of  these  words.  In  its  Catholicitv  it 
will  ernbrace  all  true  Christians,  and  it  will  protest  against  everv 
form  of  sin  As  to  doctrine,  the  church  of  the  fofuJe  wfll  be 
formed  on  lines  of  character  rather  than  belief.  Still  it  will  not 
be  liberal  in  the  sense  of  those  denominations  that  make  truth  and 
error  synonyrnous  term.s.  It  will  have  a  faith  and  hold  it  tena¬ 
ciously.  It  will  emphasize  the  claims  of  truth  as  well  as  of  rieht- 
eousness,  knowing  that  only  the  truth  can  make  us  free  It  will 
however  be  a  liberal  church  in  the  true  meaning  of  that  woJd 
We  shall  come  back  to  the  liberality  of  the  Apostle  Paul  anTsav 
with  him:  In  every  nation  he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh 
nghteousness  IS  accepted  of  him.”  worKetn 

It  will  have  at  least  two  articles  of  faith  • 

I.  To  fear  God. 

II.  To  work  righteousness. 

All  that  is  merely  sacramental  will  vanish.  Ordinances  will  be 
consecrated  to  a  higher  use  than  that  of  dividing  the  household  of 
laith.  We  shall  stand  where  good  men  of  all  pp-p<;  haxrp  ^ 

adopt  the  faith  of  Abraham,  Moses  and  David  ;  the  faith  of  Elifoh 
the^postles!^  ^  prophets,  as  well  as  that  of  Christ  Ind 


24 


The  Bible  will  remain  ;  but  the  interpretations  which  have 
divided  men  will  be  forgotten.  Mystical  inferences  and  unwar¬ 
rantable  deductions  will  be  set  aside.  Jesus  will  retnain  :  but  the 
endless  speculations  about  his  person  will  perish  ;  and  that  ancient 
nation,  the  Jews,  will  see  in  him  their  long  looked  Jor  Messiah. 

The  Christianity  of  Christ,  as  he  conceived  it,  is  the  true  and 
universal  religion,  never  to  be  superseded  or  outgrown.  It  em¬ 
bodies  the  Word  which  is,  was  and  ever  shall  be,  the  WUKU 
forever  settled  in  heaven  that  which  is  true  because  it  inheres 
in  the  character  of  the  Infinite  One  who  changes  not.  We  shall 
see  that  religion  is  true  as  science  is  true,  because  founded  on  ex¬ 
isting  entities,  not  on  speculations  or  suppositions,  not  on  rnatters 
of  faith  beyond  knowledge,  but  on  known  facts  of  human  life,  no 
more  to  be  questioned  than  the  facts  of  astronomy  or  the  cos¬ 
mogony  of  the  earth.  Of  course,  there  must  always  remain  some¬ 
thing  of  that  mystery  which  hangs  about  existence  and  environs 
us  at  every  turn  ;  something  of  that  infinity  which  must  forever  be 
beyond  human  limitations.  There  is,  and  must  forever  be  a  realm 
of  faith  which  is  beyond  sight.  All  I  mean  to  affirm  is,  that  the 
verities  of  our  holy  religion,  properly  understood,  are  not  less 
certain  than  our  knowledge  of  science  ;  the  one  being  the  outward 
and  visible  and  the  other  the  inward  and  invisible  ^pression  of 
the  divine  Being.  For,  in  the  church  of  the  future,  GOD  \vill  be 
all  in  all.  And,  as  works  of  science  do  not  create  but  reveal  what 
IS  so  religion  will  be  understood  and  seen  to  be  inherent  and 
necessary  ;  not  an  outgrowth  of  the  teachings  of  the  Bible  merely , 
but  that  this  holy  Book  itself  is  a  mere  outline  of  the  Being  who 
is  the  Life  of  life,  and  whose  laws  encompass  us,  “m  whom  we 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being  that  the  truths  of  the  Bible 
are  true,  not  because  they  are  written  but  because  they  are  a 
transcript  of  what  “was  from  the  beginning  with  God.  We 
shall  see  in  this  the  true  grounds  of  infallibility,  and  transfer  our 
adoration  from  a  book  manipulated  by  man,  to  Him  who  is  the 
Author  and  Source  of  truth,  and  who  is  above  all  possibility  of 
perversion  •  through  which  we  shall  be  able  to  answer  those  who 
bring  even  the  Bible  into  the  defence  of  their  pet  schemes  of 

iniquity.  ,  ,  ,  ■  r 

But  when  and  how  will  this  new  era  be  ushered  in  ?  1  answer^ 

it  will  come  in  God’s  own  time.  We  may  look  for  it,  and,  if  God 
wills  do  something  to  promote  and  hasten  it ;  but  it  can  come 
only  ’in  God’s  own  time.  It  will  come  as  the  spring  comes,  break- 
in^  the  icy  bands  of  winter,  releasing  ten  thousand  streams,  and 
awakening  to  life  all  nature.  It  will  come  as  a  new  world  comes 
into  being  when  the  morning  stars  rejoice  together  and  all  the  sons 
of  God  shout  for  joy.  It  will  come  in  the  inspiring  breath  of  the 
Almighty,  and  the  glory  of  our  salvation  will  be  his,  all  his. 


